FORMER chess grand master Garry Kasparov has accused Vladimir Putin of running a KGB dictatorship hellbent on “going after” other countries. Kasparov, from Baku in Azerbaijan, was ranked number one between 1986 and 2005, and still holds records for consecutive tournament victories.

He was the youngest undisputed chess champion in 1985 after defeating Russian Anatoly Karpov, and played against IBM super-computer Deep Blue in 1996, losing one game, drawing two and winning three.

The 54-year-old has long criticised the Putin regime and was instrumental in setting up The Other Russia, a coalition opposing Putin’s rule.

Kasparov was arrested in Moscow in 2007 after attending a pro-democracy rally and was later beaten and arrested outside the trial of feminist punk band Pussy Riot in 2012.

He told Desert Island Discs that Putin’s actions have been predictable, saying: “It is a one-man dictatorship.

“It was a police state 10 years ago and I’ve been shouting in the desert trying to bring attention to the fact that this regime was on the way to turning into an open dictatorship that would go after other countries.